Biden pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth: ‘She defined an era’

‘Her legacy will loom large in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world’

President Joe Biden on Thursday hailed the late Queen Elizabeth II as “more than a monarch” and a leader who “defined an era”.

“In a world of constant change, she was a steadying presence and a source of comfort and pride for generations of Britons, including many who have never known their country without her,” he said in a statement released by the White House.

Mr Biden said her “history-making reign”, which spanned seven decades, “bore witness to an age of unprecedented human advancement and the forward march of human dignity”, and noted that she “led always with grace, an unwavering commitment to duty, and the incomparable power of her example”.

He also credited her with being “a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock Alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States”.

“She helped make our relationship special,” he said.

The president added that he and first lady Jill Biden “look forward to continuing a close friendship” with the new King and the Queen Consort, and said “the thoughts and prayers of people all across the United States are with the people of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth in their grief”.

“We send our deepest condolences to the Royal Family, who are not only mourning their Queen, but their dear mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her legacy will loom large in the pages of British history, and in the story of our world,” he said.

The president also signed a proclamation ordering US flags at the White House, government buildings, military bases and on US naval vessels to be flown at half-mast until the day of her interment “as a mark of respect” for the Queen’s memory.

Mr Biden spoke briefly about the late Queen during a Democratic National Committee reception in Maryland, just after signing a condolence book during a short visit to the British Embassy in Washington.

“I want to say a few words about Queen Elizabeth ... I had the opportunity to meet her before she passed and she was an incredibly gracious and decent woman,” he said. “The thoughts and prayers the American people are with the people in the United Kingdom in the Commonwealth and their grief.”

Joe Biden signs a condolence book at the UK embassy in Washington DC as first lady Jill Biden looks on (REUTERS)

Mr Biden met with Her Majesty twice in his capacity as the 46th president of the United States during his June 2021 visit to the UK: Once at a reception held during the G7 summit in Cornwall and during a visit to Windsor Castle the next day for tea at the Queen’s invitation.

But those two meetings were not the first time Mr Biden crossed paths with the Queen. According to a White House review of Mr Biden’s Senate records, the future president’s first encounter with Her Majesty came nearly four decades earlier, when, as a senator from Delaware, he travelled to the UK for a meeting of the British-American Parliamentary Group.

Her Majesty’s seven decades on the throne spanned the terms of 13 presidents all but one of whom met the Queen in person.

According to Buckingham Palace, the Queen’s first encounter with an American chief executive came just five years into her reign when she met then-president Dwight Eisenhower during a 1957 state visit to the US.

She hosted his successor, John F Kennedy, for dinner at the palace when he and then-first lady Jackie Kennedy visited the UK in 1961.

Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon Johnson, would be the only US president not to meet Her Majesty. But when Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh hosted Richard Nixon for lunch in July 1969 it would begin a streak that would not be broken.

Her Majesty would meet three more US presidents on their own territory during state visits to America: Gerald Ford in 1976, George HW Bush in 1991, and his son George W Bush in 2007 during what would be her last official visit to the US.